FInal Drafft: Response to starry night

When reading and listening to this poem, I felt and thought a couple of different things.  At first, from just reading it once and skimming it over, I didn't think much of it.  I just saw it as this lady trying to make a poem deeper that it need being.  I just looked at it appeared to look like, and not what was underneath.  I had no real interest into seeking the meaning into this poem, because on the first look around it didn't seem too great. After we discussed this poem in class for a while I saw that there was more to it.  A lot more.  I found out that she had committed suicide.  That made my view on this poem change completely.  I began to think of this poem as more than just a poem, but as a suicide note.  This was her suicide note, her message to the world.

And that got me to thinking all about suicide and her suicide.  Maybe this poem is about her trying to tell people how she was feeling, desperately reaching out for someone to understand her and help.  She was talking about How she wanted to die, but she writes it like this: "This is how
         I want to die"
She makes I want to die it's own separate line.  Maybe this is me trying to make everything fit together, but it seemed like she wanted people to know she felt like dying.  It makes you wonder though, if she talked to anyone about it, or if she just hoped eventually someone would realize this, if it is actually about this.  It’s a really interesting poem after I started thinking about this, still not sure if I like it yet though.

Please Don't Take My Air Jordans

I really liked this poem.  I felt like I could relate to it a lot, although i would never kill anyone over a pair of shoes... I can see where he is coming from.  In the world, although most people won't admit it, you're judged mainly on how you look.  How fly you're looking, or fresh your kicks are looking in this poem's case.  When you walk down the street people don't look at you and think, "I bet that guy has a great personality", they think, "wow that guy looks terrible in that poke-a-dot super skinny jeans", or, "wow that guy's pretty hot", and even sometimes, "that guy needs to pick up his pants".  We all feel pressured into looking good because we all want to impress the people around us.  We all want that new cool thing, those new Air Jordans.  We like it when people say that they think that our necklace is pretty, or that our shirt is pretty awesome.  The author felt so pressured by all of this, that he took a man's life in order to look good.

Nobody wants to be that guy that has all the old clothes that nobody thinks is cool anymore.  You can learn that from just glancing at this poem.  He would've lost all of his credit and respect if he didn't get new shoes.  He couldn't live with that, so he found a way to get his new shoes without spending a lot of money.  Although I do not agree AT ALL with what this person did, I can relate.  I can relate to the feeling of trying to look good in order to be accepted.  We can all relate to it, and that's why I like this poem.




(I had this saved in my draft folder, I forgot to publish it)

Revised Response to Starry Night

When reading and listening to this poem, I felt and thought a couple of different things.  At first, from just reading it once and skimming it over, I didn't think much of it.  I just saw it as this lady trying to make a poem deeper that it need being.  I just looked at it appeared to look like, and not what was underneath.  I had no real interest into seeking the meaning into this poem, because on the first look around it didn't seem too great.  You know how, when you see someone walking down the street and you kind of size them up and try to tell if they're cool or see if they're wearing some nice shoes?  I did that with this poem.  I was just sizing it up, and seeing whether it had anything cool going on it.  When you see someone walking down the street, you don't know what's underneath though.  And the same goes for poems.  You have to actually think about it, and go under.

So I decided to read it a second time and see if I could find out more and see if I could find some connection or find some theme.  That's when I realized that there was more to this poem than what just meets the eye.  I saw a connection between her and Van Gough when he drew the painting and what she thought he was thinking.  She created her own version and her own story behind what Van Gough was thinking when he was drawing the painting.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, she tried to sum up those words and make a poem out of it.

Then, after we discussed the poem in class and went even further than we had before, I found it even more.  This poem to me, was wrapped in layers, and I had to slowly unwrap each one.  I found out she committed suicide.  This made my head go spinning.  Suicide?  And that got me to thinking that maybe this poem was about her suicide.  Maybe this poem is about her trying to tell people how she was feeling, desperately reaching out for someone to understand her and help.  She was talking about How she wanted to die, but she writes it like this: "This is how
         I want to die"
She makes I want to die it's own separate line.  Maybe this is me trying to make everything fit together, but it seemed like she wanted people to know she felt like dying.

Reading Respone to "Youth in Revolt"

Youth and Revolt is a book by the author C.D Payne about an adolescent boy getting through his adolescent and doing adolescent things...kind of.  He isn't what you would call a "normal" kid.  He does and thinks about things a little differently then other adolescent boys, or at least just me.  As of right now I'm in about the middle beginning of the book.  In this part of the book the character, named Ned, has his first girlfriend whom he met on a vacation with his family.  He had the most amazing time while he was there but now that he has left, he has to try to work through a long distance relationship.  He has to take care of the dog she hates, go to a bad public school, try to get his girlfriend to satisfy his needs, fake his friends suicide, and keep his life together all in one.  You can say Ned has his plateful dealing with everything.

Although this book might seem a bit weird and a bit unorthordox to most, I really really like it.  I can really connect to it.  Although i don't think like Ned, it's all very similar.  Its just a book about a teenage boy doing teenage boy stuff.  Thinking about girls, doing things for girls (in Ned's case taking care of a dumb dog), doing stupid things, getting angry at your parents and your sister, and eating doughnuts.  Lots of doughnuts.

One thing I really like about this book is that it's real.  It doesn't try to get soft around the edges, it doesn't try to make Ned's mind less perverted, and doesn't try to make Ned's mom seem less stupid.  It's real with you.  It gives you things straight with you and that's something hard to come by these days.  People a lot of the time aren't real with you, I know I'm not real all the time.  It's something I feel like should be really appreciated.

All in all I really like this book and can't wait to finish it and find out all that is going to happen.